DE 41 23 775 A1 describes a door arrester, in which a door-retaining rod, which is provided with latching markings, is fastened pivotably with its one end to one of the door assembly parts comprising the door and door pillar and can be passed with its other end into a metal holder housing which can be fixed to the corresponding, other door assembly part. In this case, an abutment roll is arranged rotatably in the holder housing on one side of the retaining bar, said abutment roll being in contact with a surface of the retaining bar that is formed without latching markings, and on the other side a swinging element, which is designed as a cage, is mounted on a metallic stud which passes through the holder housing parallel to the abutment roll. The cage has a loading roll which comes into contact with the door-retaining bar and, by means of prestressing a torsion spring designed as a coiled spring, loads the cage. The torsion spring is mounted with its two coiled sections on this stud, the ends of the torsion spring being supported against the holder housing and a loading arm, which connects the two coil sections, acting upon the cage. The known door arrester has a series of deficiencies, in particular, the outlay on installation and the multiplicity of parts are responsible for high manufacturing costs. The geometry of the holder housing is complex, since a multiplicity of parts have to be provided on it, which means that the manufacturing of the corresponding sheet-metal blanks involves correspondingly high costs. The insertion and fixing of the studs forming pivot axes of the cage and the loading roll and the abutment roll requires the provision, which is complex in terms of manufacturing, of holes and elongated slots in the sheet-metal blank and problems to do with tolerances mean that these result in undesirable fluctuations in the retaining forces of the door arresters. The bearing of the torsion spring on the stud requires the two parts to be greased in order to avoid squeaking noises, the action of the grease rapidly declining over prolonged use or if a vehicle heats up due to solar irradiation. Furthermore, the rollers, when their ability to roll diminishes, produce annoying squeaking noises which are undesirable and which at the same time result in increased wear to the roller and retaining bar, since the parts are designed for rolling along each other and not for sliding. In addition, the squeaking noises penetrate continuously to the outside. The actuating resistance of the door arrester changes over its service life, as a result of which an arresting performance which is initially found to be pleasant is gradually found to be annoying. The prestress of the torsion springs means that the parts have to be installed in a sequence in which first of all the door-retaining bar is inserted through a corresponding opening in the holder housing and then the stud is passed through the torsion spring and the cage, which means that the resultant installation unit can be difficult to handle when installing it in a motor vehicle. The known door arrester is heavy and contributes to increasing the overall weight of the vehicle. Finally, because of its unattractive external appearance and the components which are accessible from the outside and because of its sensitivity to corrosion, the known door arrester is fitted only on the inside of a door assembly part, which means that it is difficult to gain access to and the outlay on installation is considerable.
DE 196 32 630 A1 describes a door arrester which functions in accordance with the same functioning principle as that which has been described above. The door arrester has a retaining bar which is guided through an opening of a receiving part which consists of sheet metal. Arranged on the receiving part is a bearing shaft on which a pivoting part is arranged pivotably, said pivoting part being shifted in the direction of the door-retaining bar by the load of a spring or its spring fork, a plastic bearing roller, which sits on a metal bearing bolt, thereby being pressed against the door-retaining bar. On the opposite side, on which the recesses of the door-retaining bar are also arranged, a bearing roller, which is likewise manufactured from plastic, is arranged on a metal bearing bolt, which is mounted on the receiving part, and engages in the latching recesses. In addition to the receiving part, which also has the drill holes for fixing it to a door strut, a plastic covering is provided which likewise has a passage opening for the door-retaining bar and which is pulled onto the receiving part, a bearing shaft which is beared in the receiving part also passing through the covering. All essential parts of the door arrester are mounted on the receiving part as supporting part, and the receiving part is also fixed to the vehicle bodywork, so that the plastic covering merely additionally acts as a trim panel, but not as a functional or supporting part of the door arrester. All in all, the production and installation of the known door arrester are complex and expensive.
DE 44 34 028 C2 shows a further door arrester of this type of construction, in which a swinging element in the manner of a cage is arranged in a metallic housing, is mounted pivotably on a first shank arranged on the housing and in which a roll is mounted on the swinging element, said roll being pressed against the narrow side of a retaining bar. On that narrow side of the retaining bar which faces away from the swinging element and is designed with latching depressions, a further shank supporting a mating roll made of soft plastic is beared on the housing. The production and installation of the known door arrester are complex and expensive. Furthermore, mating rolls of this type which are produced from a soft plastic have a tendency, due to the stress, to form grooves in the roll, and so in heavy doors regularly have to be replaced by metal rolls. In order to obtain sufficient strength, metallically substrates are regularly required for soft plastics of this type thus involving an undesirable multiplicity of parts and materials.
DE 44 23 819 A1 shows a different type of door arrester which guides a ball which is under pressure, in which a door-retaining bar is connected to a ball, which is acted upon by a spring and sits in a guide element, and interacts with a profiled latching rail which has latching recesses, and defines preferred opening positions of the door. The housing on the bodywork is produced from plastic. A swinging element or another rigid element for causing a pivoting movement in the housing is not provided.
DE 94 178 83 U1 or DE 198 22 098 A1 or DE 1 459 176 A1 or DE 40 09 844 C2 also show a different type of construction of door arresters, in which a door-retaining bar can be displaced through a plastic housing, in which the flat surfaces of the door-retaining bar is braked between two sliding bodies which are acted upon by springs, permit an axial adjusting movement and may also have rollers or may consist of hard plastic. A swinging element or another rigid element for causing a pivoting movement in the housing is not provided. The end of the retaining bar generally has a stop which may comprise a buffer or the like.
DE 29 44 766 A1 or FR 2 666 616 A1 describe a door arrester of a simple type of construction, in which elastically prestressed roll bodies cause a braking action along the flat side of the retaining bar, which is provided with bulges, and in which ends of the elastomer bodies protrude out of a housing in the region of the slot recess for the passage of the door-retaining bar and form a compressible stop for the end of the door-retaining bar.
DE 85 093 74 U1 shows an arrester for windows and the like, in which a pair of rolls mounted in plastic holders are pressed against the flat surfaces of a retaining bar causing springs of rubber-elastic profiled components to be prestressed. The holders containing the rolls are pivoted as thickened latching sections of the retaining bar slide past and are pressed against the compressible profiled components. An arrester of this type which brakes a lightweight object owing to the friction of the surfaces which are in contact cannot be used for heavy vehicle doors. Also, the rubber-elastic profiled components do not meet the requirements made of the working life of a motor vehicle door arrester which has to withstand several thousand changes of load without a noticeable change in the retaining moments. In particular, the forces required for shifting the retaining bar in the push and pull directions of the retaining bar differ. Moreover, the production and installation of arresters of this type which are to be composed of a large number of individual parts is time-consuming and costly.
DE 74 350 37 U1 describes a vehicle door arrester, in which a passage opening for a door-retaining bar having raised bulges is provided in a housing, a strut which is arranged on the housing being of flexible and pliable design in such a manner that it is bent out or bent together as it passes the bulge. The strut may be supported by a spring. A first disadvantage of the known door arrester is that the retaining forces differ in the opening direction and in the closing direction. Furthermore, the retaining forces are entirely neutralized in the event of sudden changes of load, which may cause the vehicle door to suddenly swing out. In order to be able to effectively fix the retaining bar, the retaining bar requires bulges on its side which faces the strut. Finally, a pliable strut does not meet the requirements made of the working life of a motor vehicle door arrester which has to withstand several thousand changes of load without a noticeable change in the retaining moments.
DE 27 31 731 A1 describes yet another type of construction of door arresters for motor vehicle doors, in which two plastic sliding components are adjusted at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to a retaining bar by means of rubber bodies designed as springs, a first braking surface of the sliding components rubbing on the flat side of the door-retaining bar, and a second, outer sliding surface bearing against an outwardly bent housing wall of a housing in order, in particular, to obtain an adjustment in the event of the brake wedges becoming worn, bulges being formed in the door-retaining bar and defining preferred arresting positions or resistance on further opening. Although the known door arrester permits uniform retention of the retaining bar in the opening direction as in the closing direction, it also holds true here that the requirements made of the working life of a motor vehicle door arrester, which has to withstand several thousand changes of load without a noticeable change in the retaining moments, are not met by the rubber bodies. Moreover, two housing parts having a plurality of bevels have to be put together in order to accommodate the rubber bodies and the brake wedges.
DE 574 787 C describes a door stop, in which a leather strip is arranged directly, without a housing, on the inside of a door post in order to dampen the impact using a stop cushion which is arranged in the end region of a door-retaining bar.